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Highland Falls, New York

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Highlands town. It lies in ZIP code area 10928. It stands on Highland Brook. The Survey maps it on the Peekskill quadrangle. 3,684 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 144 feet above sea level.

Highland Falls within Orange County

Then and now

1892 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 94 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Highland Falls, surveyed 1986
Topographic sheet of Highland Falls, surveyed 1892

On record in Highland Falls

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 11 records

Population over time

2 figures

Highland Falls fell from 3,900 to 3,684 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20103,900
20203,684-216 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

16 surveys from 43 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

370 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 370 fires within 5 miles of Highland Falls between 1994 and 2020, burning about 1,841 acres in total. 37 started naturally. 43 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined210
Arson/incendiarism43
Natural37
Smoking23
Equipment and vehicle use19
Power generation/transmission/distribution13
Debris and open burning13
Recreation and ceremony9
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Railroad operations and maintenance1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
8 September 2016Recreation and ceremony3.8 acresFire Department of New YorkN/A
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New YorkNA
8 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
7 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
7 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
7 September 2001Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
6 September 2018Naturalunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Orange County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 27 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 27 workings within 5 miles of Highland Falls: 17 past producers, 7 occurrences, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Sulfur, Sulfur. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Bog Meadow Pond DepositZirconiumOccurrence
Canopus MineIron, TitaniumPast Producer1912
Canopus Nelson Magnetite MineIron, Titanium, MetalPast Producer1912
Constitution Island OccurrenceMolybdenumOccurrence
Cotton Rock Stilbite DepositZeolitesOccurrence
Kinnaird Graphite Property DepositGraphiteOccurrence
Phillips MineMolybdenum, UraniumOccurrenceReplacement
Phillips MineSulfur-Pyrite, Iron, UraniumPast Producer1865, 1880
Phillips Mine-Camp Smith AreaCobalt, Copper, Gold, Nickel, Silver, UraniumPast Producer1866
Phillips Sulfide, Magnetite MineIron, Uranium, Copper, Gold, Nickel, Silver, SulfurPast Producer

Every working recorded in Orange County

Storms near this place

18 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Highland Falls in 18 storm reports between 2000 and 2024: 11 flash flood, 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2000Flash FloodHighland Falls$500,000no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindHighland Falls$6,000Large tree fell onto a house on Cedar Lane.
August 2018Thunderstorm WindHighland Falls$5,000Numerous reports of trees and wires down around town...including trees down at the intersection of 9W and State Route 293 and 9W and State Route 218.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindHighland Falls$3,000Trees were reported down in Highland Falls, including along Route 9W and Route 118.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindHighland Falls$2,000Wires down on Walnut Avenue.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindHighland Falls$1,000Wires were reported down in the southbound lane of US Route 9W near Highland Falls.
July 2023Flash FloodHighland Falls-Multiple people trapped in RVs at the Highland Falls RV Park. Flooding is ongoing and Fire Department is responding.
July 2023Flash FloodHighland Falls-Route 9W is washed out in both directions. Boulders blocking the roadway between Fort Montgomery and Highland Falls.
July 2023Flash FloodHighland Falls-Significant flooding ongoing on main Street. Multiple cars have flowing water up to the tops of them. Swift water rescues ongoing.
July 2023Flash FloodHighland Falls-Two people trapped in vehicle submerged in flood waters on Eagle Valley Road. Fire Department Responding.
July 2023Flash FloodHighland Falls-Spotter video shows Route 9W at 218 Junction flooded and impassible.
July 2023Flash FloodHighland Falls-Two persons trapped in vehicle in flood waters. Fire Department responding.
August 2010Heavy RainHighland Falls-A car traveling on Route 9W in Highland Falls hydroplaned from the heavy rain, spun off the road, hit a rock and then hit the guard rail. A passenger in the back seat, who was pregnant, was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at Cornwall Hospital. Two other passengers also sustained minor injuries. A Cocorahs observer in Cold Spring, 4 miles NE of the accident in Putnam County, reported 5.29 inches of total rainfall.
August 2009Flash FloodHighland Falls-All lanes were closed northbound and southbound on NY 218 between Cornwall-on-Hudson and West Point due to flooding.
July 2008Flash FloodHighland Falls-Route 218 was closed in both directions between West Point Academy and the Cornwall line due to flooding. A National Weather Service Cooperative Observer reported a storm total rainfall amount of 2.00 inches in West Point.
September 2008Flash FloodHighland Falls-State Highway 218 was closed in both directions between Cornwall and West Point due to flooding.
October 2005Flash FloodHighland Falls-no account filed
September 2003Heavy RainHighland Falls-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Orange County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
West Point1.6 miles42
North Dock2.0 miles42
Fort Montgomery2.8 miles43
Cornwall Landing5.4 miles35
Cornwall-on-Hudson5.8 miles35
Mountainville6.3 miles35
Firthcliffe6.4 miles35
Orrs Mill6.6 miles35

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Highland FallsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1020598The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 970209. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.